Backbone
by xoalways
Summary: "When enemies are at your door I'll carry you away from war if you need help, if you need help. Your hope dangling by a string, I'll share in your suffering to make you well, to make you well. Give me reasons to believe that you would do the same for me." Story based off of the synopsis for 6x04. No spoilers. Written before the promo aired.


_Hi. I'm back again. It's been a couple months, hasn't it? This story sparked from the synopsis of this coming Monday's episode Number One Fan (6x04). I started it before the promo, so it's nothing like that. Zero spoilers._

_I also noticed that this is the second time I've used Phillip Phillips's song Gone, Gone, Gone for a fic title/summary. Guess he's kind of right on the dot when it comes to Caskett, eh? I have no shame. _

_Anyways, I love any and all feedback. Please be kind and if you have any future story ideas feel free to tell me. I love prompts. Thank you!_

_xo_

* * *

Rick sits in the office chair outside of the room where the fugitive they've been trying to track down, Emma Briggs, is holding multiple people hostage. Emma pulls up a chair and sits across from him.

"I'm prepared to strike a deal with you," she tells him. He nods. "I will let all these people go if you get Detective Beckett in here."

"Why?" is the first thing out of his mouth.

She smiles. "You have to get her in here to find out. Or someone will get a bullet to their skull right now. Your choice."

He can't put innocent people's lives in any more danger than they already are so he sighs, pulling out his phone. Kate answers on the first ring.

"Castle," she breathes into the line, and he knows she's worried. He's sitting across from a mentally unstable murder suspect. He can't say he blames her.

"Hey," he replies lovingly, his voice telling her that he's okay. "She'll let the hostages go. But she wants you in here as the trade-off."

"And you?" Kate asks.

"Do I stay?" Rick asks Emma. She pauses, as if she hadn't thought about it, and nods. "I'm staying," he tells his fiancé.

He hears someone in the background talking to Kate, and then her attention is back on him. "Tell her to send the hostages out now. I'll be in there when every single one of them is outside."

He relays that back to Emma and she smiles, goes back into the office holding the hostages.

"Okay, Kate. They're leaving now."

"I'll see you in a minute," she says and hangs up.

Rick watches every person leave, keeps an eye on Emma to make sure she doesn't pull any moves. The door to the outside shuts and not a split second later is Kate walking in. Her eyes meet his, giving him a small nod, just a confirmation that he's okay. He gives her a tight smile.

"Well, well, well. Detective Beckett. I'm glad you held up your end of the deal. I would have had to kill your fiancé. We wouldn't want another murder on our hands would we?"

Kate doesn't say anything, face trained to keep any reaction hidden. "Can you tell me why you wanted me in here?" she asks Emma, all senses on high alert.

Emma grins and points her gun at Kate's head.

"No!" Rick shouts, stepping in between the two women. "Don't shoot."

"Rick," Kate whispers from behind him, pulling on his jacket. "Get behind me."

"I'm not getting behind you. Not when she wants to kill you."

"But Rick, if I kill her then you and I can be together. Don't you see that?"

"What- when did that idea ever get planted in your head?" Rick asks, holding one hand behind his back on Kate's hip to make sure she stays behind him. He can't watch her get shot. Not again. Most especially not if he can protect her this time.

"You don't remember me?" Emma asks with a pout. He slowly shakes his head from side to side. "We met at a book signing two years ago. You signed my copy of Frozen Heat. In it you wrote, _Emma. You look like a woman who has just had her heart broken. Keep your head up. Somebody out there is the one for you. Rick Castle._ So you see? You're the one for me. I have been keeping up with you ever since, and when I learned you two were in a relationship I decided to be rash. Wait patiently," her voice wavers, "But I was watching you two in the park. You proposed to her. And then a week later I learned that she was in DC? And you were okay with that?" Emma is angry now, breathing heavily, "So before I did anything, I kept waiting. I knew you wouldn't make it if you two were in a different city. But now you're back in town," she yells at Kate, "And you're ruining my chance with him. I'm supposed to be his third wife. Not some damaged NYPD detective," she spits.

Her hand with the gun is shaking and Rick stares at it. Emma's eyes meet his.

"Why don't you love me, Rick? Hm? What makes her better than me?"

She shoots the wall, making both Rick and Kate jump.

"I-" Rick begins to say something, calm her down maybe, he really doesn't even know himself, but his eyes fall to the small black thing wrapped around her wrist, peaking out of her sleeve. It looks like a detonator and his heart sinks. No. She's not going to shoot them, she's going to blow them up.

"Emma," Kate starts, beginning to step around Rick, but he grabs her wrist, nodding discreetly to the contraption. He knows when it registers in her mind what it is because her entire body tenses up. "Nobody has to die here," she starts again.

"You do," Emma whispers.

"No. Because if you shoot me, you'll spend your life in prison. Then nobody gets to be with Rick."

Emma smiles. "I guess we all should die then, huh?"

Rick sees the glint in her eye and knows what she's about to do. He grabs Kate by the waist and throws her behind the metal desk, landing on top of her just as Emma detonates the bomb. He jumps at the sound, pinning Kate's body underneath his, his head buried in her neck. The desk blows towards them from the force of the explosion, pinning them against the wall. His ears are still ringing, heart throbbing inside his chest.

"Kate," he whispers.

"I'm okay," she says against his skin from underneath of him. "Are you?"

He shifts a little bit to look at her face. He frowns. "I'm okay. You're bleeding."

"I can't feel it," she says. "How bad?"

He brushes her hair back gently, looks at the gash. "Not as bad as it looks."

She smiles a little bit, combs her fingers through his hair. "Thank you," she says softly, pressing her lips to his. Soon the room will be flooded with officers and paramedics, but she needs this minute with him.

"Always, Kate. You know that."


End file.
